Silver Crosses
by The Disposable Villain
Summary: Yami Sennen. Atem Sennen. Seto Kaiba. Kek Kosey. Vampire Hunters working with Silver Crosses in Domino. Bakura Touzoku. Akefia Touzoku. Ryou Touzoku. Marik Ishtar. Vampires running from Silver Crosses in Domino. Fate never had a good way of working in their favour - in any of their favours. Casteshipping, Antagoshipping, Deathshipping, Mnemoshipping, Thiefshipping. Vampire AU.
1. Chapter 1

_DD: Hey guys! Here's a vampire AU that I've been writing with JazzyMin97 on Wattpad. Hope you guys like it! Enjoy!_

* * *

The silver light glinted in broken patches on the darkened street as two figures chased through it.

One snarled curses, stained with blood. The other was silent, gripping a long knife.

The one with the knife kept his eyes on the blood stained figure. His grip tightened.

They had played this 'cat-and-mouse' game for long enough. It was time for their fun to end.

His legs pumped harder.

The beast jumped and scrambled up the nearest fire escape.

Another figure – almost identical to the first – stood at the top, waiting.

His own blades gleamed. After a short, strangled scream, the beast's body slopped against the ladder and its head bounced down to the ground.

The first figure huffed and picked up the head. "Atem! That one was mine!"

Atem shrugged. "Then you should have killed him faster."

"Don't forget the body; we need to burn it!" Yami called. "And I would have if you didn't interfere!"

Atem hummed. "Sure you would have." He threw the body down.

It hit the ground in front of Yami with a heavy splat; blood splashed up onto him. It wasn't necessary to burn every body. But they hadn't burned one once, and it had come back. Now, they burned every single one. Just to be safe.

"That was nasty!" Yami yelled, shaking his legs to get some of the creature's blood off. "You could have thrown it away from me!"

Gods, why was Atem such an ass?

Atem shrugged, making his way down the fire escape with quick jumps from landing to landing. He dropped beside his brother. "Your fault for chasing him up the roof." He himself was stained with a bit of blood. "Besides, it's only on your clothes. You can burn them later if you want."

Yami stuck out his tongue. "Yeah, maybe, but it's a waste to have to burn them."

"Then just wash them." Atem folded his arms. "Are we burning it here or out on the hill?"

The hill. An area of land they used to either burn large groups or vampires that had put up a good fight.

Yami scoffed and spat at the vampire. "It doesn't deserve the hill. Here will be fine."

Atem sighed as he pulled his lighter out. "You're the one who couldn't catch him."

"Just shut up and burn it," Yami spat, glaring at his brother.

Atem smirked slightly. He clicked the lighter and bent down. The flames licked at the beast's body for a moment before catching on.

Atem stood back, pocketing the lighter.

Yami waited for the flames to engulf its entire body before tossing in the head as well.

It was so pathetic.

Cornering weak prey and sucking them dry.

Yami scrunched his nose in disgust at the smell that came from the creature. "I don't get why these blood sucking assholes keep swarming here."

"It's easy to corner people in alleys, and there's lots of alleys in this part of the city," Atem muttered, turning away."Come on. We need to check in and get home; school starts tomorrow."

Yami groaned, turning to follow his brother. "Why did they send us if they actually want us to go in tomorrow?"

"Quit whining, Yami. We could have declined the mission but we both knew that wasn't going to happen. Let's go."

Yami cast a final glance at the burning corpse before following Atem out of the alley.

Atem turned on his phone as they walked and dialled _Boss_.

 _"What? Make it fast."_

"It's Atem and Yami. Job's done. Anything else before tomorrow?" Atem questioned.

 _"No. Get home and get some sleep before tomorrow,"_ came the reply. _"I'll see you at school. You won't be getting as many jobs during school terms. Not ones that take you away from Domino anyway."_

Atem nodded. "Got it. See you then." He hung up.

"What'd he say?" Yami asked, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Go home and get some sleep for school. They won't be giving us missions outside of Domino for a while," Atem explained, slipping the phone back into his pocket. Yami huffed and slid his knife into its sheath. "You know it's for the best," Atem sighed. "You nearly failed last year's exams."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll pass these ones with flying colours, right?" Yami muttered.

"That's the point. Are you going to be able to focus enough, or are you going to be flirting your ass off again?" Atem raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up," Yami snapped. "You were flirting with Mahad for nearly the whole year."

"Yeah, but both he and I got close to top scores," Atem teased, "so I'm allowed to."

Yami folded his arms. "Shut up. I'm older than you."

"Yeah, but you act younger," Atem pointed out.

"Nu uh!"

"See?" Atem smirked.

"Shut up," Yami repeated as they neared their apartment.

Atem grinned. "We should really get a car. Then we wouldn't have to wear ourselves out more after the jobs."

Yami snorted. "You want to risk any of their comrades seeing the licence plate and tracking it? Be my guest. But not while you're living with me." Not again.

Atem sighed. "Fine. But you have to agree; walking home is tiring."

"It is," Yami agreed. "But it's not worth the risk." Not after their parents.

Atem sighed again and nudged Yami. "So are you taking a shower tonight or in the morning."

"Tonight. The longer you let the blood sit, the more disgusting it is. You know that," Yami mumbled.

"Okay, I can still ask." Atem pulled out his phone. "We ordering pizza again? I don't feel like cooking."

Yami groaned. "'Tem, we've had pizza every night this week. Can't we get Chinese or Thai or something?"

Atem shrugged. "Fine but they don't deliver and I'm not picking it up."

Yami rolled his eyes. "Fine. We can have pizza."

Atem glanced at his brother. "In a couple of days, I'll cook a nice, home-made meal. Deal?"

Yami perked up. "My favourite? Or whatever you feel like?"

"Possibly." Atem smirked.

Yami scowled. "That answers nothing."

"I may or may not cook your favourite." Atem's smirk grew. "If you can stop flirting with guys long enough to pass the first maths test."

Yami almost stopped mid-step. "B-But I can still flirt, right? You know that if I don't get it out of my system, I'll lose my mojo."

"As long as you get a good grade, you can flirt," Atem assured him. "But I don't care about your 'mojo'. If you don't pass the test, I'm cutting off your flirting privileges."

Yami glared at him. "Then I'll cut off your TV privileges. That's right; no flirting for me, no TV for you."

"Then I guess you'd better pass that test." Atem smiled.

Yami growled and crossed his arms. "It's just a stupid maths test. I can pass it." He pulled out their apartment key as they began climbing the stairs.

Atem was already typing in the pizzeria number as they climbed. "Yeah. Yup. Nah, that's okay man."

Yami rolled his eyes and unlocked their door. Atem walked through. "Yeah, you too. Thanks. Have a good night."

"Did you order?" Yami dropped the keys on the table and pushed the door shut.

"Yup." Atem nodded. "Chicken and olives for you, Hawaiian for me."

Yami sighed. "Do you ever get tired of pizza?"

"Nope." Atem popped the p.

"That's going to give you a heart attack." Yami pulled off his blood-covered shirt.

Atem shrugged. "And our jobs won't?"

Yami threw his shirt into the washing basket. "Touché."

Atem glanced at his bloody clothes. "Hurry up and shower. I don't want to answer the door covered in blood – _again_."

Yami nodded and made his way to the bathroom – leisurely, despite Atem's words. He knew he had time. It always took exactly twenty nine minutes for the pizza to be delivered.

Atem sighed as he watched his brother. He'd be left with a nine-minute, luke-warm shower. As always.

"Next time," he muttered, "I'm taking the shower first." He always told himself that, but he never did.

There was something about the blood that bothered Yami more than himself. He always found himself able to stay in the clothes longer than his brother could.

The shower turned on.

He couldn't blame Yami. He had watched their parents die. He had nearly died too.

Atem shook his head and turned the television on. He needed a distraction before his sulking mood reached his brother.

 _The Simpsons._ Mind-numbing comedy. Perfect.

Although he found the show stupid, at least he didn't have to think. He chuckled as Bart said something snarky to his mother.

Something rustled outside but he paid no heed to it. Probably the neighbour's cat again.

He heard the rustling again and turned to the window. Nothing.

Stupid cat.

A few moments later, the bell rang. Atem frowned and looked at the clock. Fifteen minutes.

Too early. Too early to be the pizza.

He glanced at himself before standing up. Experimenting with Halloween blood again. It's what he had told all of his neighbours.

He walked to the door and peeked through the eyehole. A kid.

Well, teenager. Someone his own age.

That was odd. Very few people his age lived in those apartments.

He took a deep breath before opening the door. "Can I help you?"

The boy looked at him. Short, but still taller than Atem – _just_. Silver, choppy hair. Periwinkle eyes – perhaps partially blind with the scar that ran through one of them.

His eyes zoned in on the blood staining Atem. "The fuck happened to you?"

Atem glanced at his shirt. "Oh, uh, fake blood. I make it and sell it online. Halloween stores love it. Anyway, do you need something?"

The boy slowly nodded. "Yeah; are you Atem or Yami Senji or Sennen or something like that?"

"Why?" Atem frowned.

"We're living on the floor above you. Someone said you go to Domino High?" The boy trailed off.

Atem nodded. "Yeah. I take it you're a new student?"

The boy mimicked his actions. "Akefia. My brothers and I are starting tomorrow. Just wondering if there's a bus that collects you or if you walk."

"My brother and I walk but you guys could talk to the office tomorrow and see if there's a bus route." Atem grinned. "Atem, by the way. So why'd you guys move?"

Akefia shrugged. "Just some rumours that went around our old school and my brothers being bullied. Nothing really unusual except one… Someone thought I had a tail."

Atem's eyes widened and a laugh bubbled in his throat. "A tail? How the hell did that happen?"

"Trust me; there was more disturbing. That was just the craziest," Akefia chuckled.

Atem shook his head, trying not to grin. "I don't even know how that's possible, but wow. When did you guys move in? I didn't see any trucks."

Akefia snorted. "Delayed. They're coming tomorrow while we're at school. Ryou will be staying to let them in. So we get the joyous pleasure of eating cold take-out and sleeping on the floor."

Atem nodded. "Sounds wonderful. And sleeping on the floor isn't that bad. Pretend you're having a sleepover or something."

"I've been 'sleeping over' with them for sixteen years," Akefia chuckled. "There's nothing left to do."

"Well I'm sure you guys could sleep," Atem joked. "Or watch TV."

"No TV yet."

"You could find something to do."

"What a help you are," Akefia muttered.

"Yup. Definitely. So where did you guys move from?" Atem asked.

"South of Ireland," Akefia replied, leaning against the door frame. "We've lived there for the past few years."

Atem nodded – as though that explained something. "Yup. Can totally see why they thought you had a tail; Irish are weird."

"Hey!" Akefia protested, grinning. "I'm part Irish!"

"Oh that really explains it," Atem laughed. "You're weird."

"Hey!" Akefia protested again, playfully tapping Atem's arm. "You're weirder than I am. Testing Halloween blood?"

Atem rolled his eyes and huffed. "At least my weirdness ends with me being paid."

Akefia stuck his tongue out. "Well maybe I'm a voice actor for an Irish cartoon character."

Atem quirked an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Maybe." Akefia smirked.

"This isn't fair," Atem whined. "You know what I do. Why can't I know what you do?"

"Atem?"

Atem turned to see Yami walking towards them in a tank top and loose sweatpants. He hadn't heard the water turn off. "Hey, Yami."

Yami was looking past Atem. "Who's this?"

"This," Atem stated, waving at Akefia, "is someone you should be nice to. We'll be seeing him and his brothers on our way to school tomorrow." Yami narrowed his eyes. "His name's Akefia. The weird Irish guy with a tail."

"I said that was a _rumour_ and I'm not weird," Akefia laughed.

"He's weird," Atem confirmed.

Yami rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Go take a shower before the pizza guy sees you and decides the blood is real and calls the cops. _Again_."

Atem rolled his eyes. "Okay, Mr. Moody." He gave a mock wave to Akefia. "Night, Captain Weird." He turned and walked into the flat again.

Akefia shook his head and looked at Yami. "So if he's Atem, I'm guessing you're Yami?"

Yami folded his arms and leaned against the door. "Depends on who's asking."

Akefia sighed. "As your brother said, I'm Akefia. My brothers and I just moved in upstairs. We're going to be going to Domino High starting tomorrow. Is there a problem?" He raised an eyebrow.

"We didn't see any moving trucks."

"Again, as I explained to your brother, it's delayed. It's coming tomorrow."

Yami narrowed his eyes. "Why did you come down here?"

"The bat beside us said you guys go to Domino High so I came down to find out whether or not there was a bus." Akefia rolled his eyes again. "Are you done now?"

Yami hummed. "Well, Akefia, I haven't decided whether or not I like you yet. So why don't you go off to bed and let us get ready to do the same?"

Akefia's other eyebrow arched. "Well, Yami, your brother doesn't seem to mind me, so I don't really care what you think." He turned away. "Tell him I said thanks," he called over his shoulder as he walked towards the stairs.

Yami watched him until the door to the stairs closed, blocking Akefia from sight.

Yami huffed and shut the door. He hated meeting strangers at night – especially after hunting. He just wanted his pizza and sleep before school. Actually, scratch school. He just wanted pizza and sleep.

Just as Atem came out of the shower dressed in only sweatpants, the doorbell rang.

"Pizza!"

Yami shook his head and opened the door. "You're like a child," he called over his shoulder as he paid the pizza guy and took the box. He kicked the door shut behind him. "Only you would get this excited for pizza after having it every day for a week," he muttered. "I even know that kid's name now."

Atem stole his pizza from Yami. "I love my pizza; hunting seriously makes me starving. And what's his name?"

Yami plopped onto the couch and opened his pizza box. "Jaden. He's a freshman."

Sighing, Atem took a seat on the floor, his pizza box beside him. "You sound so enthused."

"He's not my type."

"Not what I meant."

"I'm just tired," Yami muttered as he grabbed a slice of pizza. "Can't we just go straight to working for Silver Crosses full time?"

Atem shook his head. "I want to do more than hunt day-in, day-out. Seto agrees with me. Learn to live, little brother."

"I'm older than you." Yami flicked a piece of chicken at Atem. "And hunting is living."

"Ew! Keep your chicken off me!" Atem brushed it off. "And there are other things besides hunting, asshole."

"True." Yami took a bite out of his pizza. "Just nothing that I want to do."

"Find a hobby. You're seventeen and no hobbies aside from sports – which you only do to improve your hunting. Your life sucks." Atem bit into his own pizza.

"My life is fine. My hobby is killing homicidal vampires. I like it." Yami glared at the blank wall.

"No, that's what pays our rent. Please Yami; stop being so bitter about everything." Atem stared down at his pizza. He wasn't very hungry anymore.

"I'll stop being bitter when we find the motherfucker that killer our parents," Yami snarled, taking a vicious bite out of his pizza.

Atem took a more nauseous bite of his pizza. "And if someone else already killed it? What then, Yami? What will fuel your bitter rage then?"

"Then I'll kill as many of them as I can before I die to make sure the same damn thing doesn't happen to another seven year old on their way back from a birthday party while their brother's home sick," Yami snapped. He threw the crust into the bin from the couch. "I'm going to bed."

Atem dropped his unfinished slice back into the box. "Whatever. I'm going to watch some TV for a bit."

"Whatever." Yami stood up and walked into his bedroom. The door slammed shut behind him.

Atem rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. This always happened. It never failed.

He wanted to scream. And argue. And he wanted his brother back.

He closed his eyes.

He wanted his _family_ back.

* * *

 _DD: Well I've got a cold now. Not sure how but I do. Ugh. And I'm annoyed; I had a really cool dream where my school did West Side Story as the musical and I got the part of that guy who sings I Want To Be In America with the girl and I love that song and I woke up wondering why I couldn't remember any of my lines… Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Please vote and review. See you next time, Killer Queens!_


	2. Chapter 2

_DV: Hey guys. I'm so, so sorry that I didn't update this sooner! My phone broke over the summer, so JazzyMin and I lost all the data of this as all of it was saved on my phone. We're piecing it back, but that's why this took so long. But, on another note, this story is in the YuGiOh_WattyAwards in the 'Duel Monsters General Yu-Gi-Oh!' category, so if you like it, please go and vote for it! Hope you enjoy!_

 **[Trigger Warnings: None this chapter.]**

* * *

When Atem and Yami got downstairs the next morning, Akefia and three others were standing outside, two arguing, one watching and Akefia on his phone trying to block them out with Bon Jovi's 'Living on a Prayer'.

"Bakura! You knew that we could have ridden my bike if you hadn't wrecked it!" Marik hissed at Bakura.

"Well, if you hadn't been drunk, maybe I wouldn't have wrecked it." Bakura shot back.

Ryou glanced between them, glad to not being going to school with them today.

Atem nudged Akefia and the latter quickly pulled out his earphones. "Hey again, blood tester."

Atem grinned, "Actually, it's maker and hello my weird Irish pal with a tail."

"I don't have a tail and I'm nobodies 'pal'. Hate that word." Akefia shook his head and looked over at his youngest brother and his boyfriend. "Great... Still arguing." He sighed. "Hey!" He called. "You know we'd probably already be there by now if you could both walk and argue."

Atem watched as they both flipped of Akefia and went back to arguing but started to follow them. "Who're they?" He questioned when Akefia turned back to him.

"My brother Bakura and his boyfriend slash roommate slash PMS-friend Marik," Akefia replied.

Atem shook his head. "They seem really friendly."

"Oh, you should see when they're actually getting along. Somehow, it's worse." Akefia muttered as he wrapped his headphones up.

Atem glanced back to see them walking around Yami, who was sulking. Again. "This'll be interesting," he muttered. "Looks like they're trying to get Yami to talk to them."

Akefia nudged Atem. "But that's a good thing. It'll get him to stop being Mr. Sulky-Pants. And it'll keep them from destroying the school."

"You think they'd destroy the school?" Atem questioned with an eyebrow raised, his attention back on Akefia.

Akefia nodded with a slight scowl. "Leave anything to them, and they'll accomplish it somehow. So let them annoy your brother for a while. It'll be fine."

Atem chuckled and looked away from the trio. "Yeah. They might finally get a reaction out of him. It's unlikely, but if what you're saying is true, not impossible." He glanced up at Akefia. "By the way, what grade are you in? Tenth?"

"Eleventh," Akefia corrected. "I think class... two?"

Atem grinned. "Same as me then. I hope you're good at maths."

Akefia's brow furrowed. "Do I want to know why?"

"Our maths teacher gives a pop quiz at the start of every term." Atem stuck out his tongue. "She gives two when the weather's good."

Akefia groaned in annoyance, "You're kidding right?"

Atem chuckled and shook his head. "I'm guessing you're not an avid lover of maths?"

"Not really. I do well enough, but they're annoying." Akefia replied.

Atem grinned and threw an arm around Akefia's shoulders. "Well prepare to grow to hate them, /pal/."

Akefia huffed and threw Atem's arm off of him. "I'm not anyone's pal! Shut up."

Atem laughed and adjusted his bag. "Whatever you say, pal."

Akefia growled and crossed his arms. "You're a bastard, you know that?"

"Nope. My parents were married when I was born thank you. But I am an asshole. I agree with you on that." Atem laughed.

"Gods! You're a morning person. Quit being a morning person." Akefia groaned.

"Nope." Atem replied popping the p.

"I hate you," Akefia huffed. "Ten minutes, and I hate you."

"Then walk on ahead and find your own way around school, pal." Atem grinned and waved his hand to the school building coming into sight.

The three-story, two-building school.

Akefia furrowed his brow slightly. "Nope. I'm using you to find my way to class."

Atem snorted. "The hate isn't so bad when you need me, is it?"

"Shut up asshole," Akefia muttered.

Atem shook his head, grinning. "Come on; let's get your locker numbers and I'll show you where they are. Hopefully you'll be sharing with someone decent."

Akefia tilted his head slightly. "You share your lockers?"

Atem nodded. "The second building is for sports, so it's actually not that big a school. We don't have enough lockers for everyone. Yami and I got through last year without sharing with anyone though, so you might be lucky."

"I see. So do they split you by year for lockers or name or what?" Akefia questioned as they neared the school.

"No, I'm pretty sure they literally get darts and whatever two names they hit first share a locker," Atem admitted.

Akefia shook his head, "That's just weird." He cast a look at his brother to make sure he was still following. "Heh, look they got him speak."

Atem glanced behind him to see Yami and Marik snapping at one another while Bakura just laughed at their argument.

"No, mint ice cream is better!"

"Are your tastebuds fucking dead? Honeycomb is better!"

Atem snorted, "Of course they'd get him started on food."

Akefia nodded. "Leave it up to Marik to argue that honeycomb is the best."

"Is that even actually a flavour? Or is it something weird he adds?" Atem questioned.

"No, it's a flavour. Or at least it was in Ireland. But then again, so was Dingle Salt and Chilli." Akefia shrugged. "He has weird taste buds."

Atem nodded, "Yeah, weird. Those aren't typical flavours around here. What's your favourite?"

"Raspberry." Akefia grinned. "I get to freak Ryou out with it sometimes. I would never scare him in a way I know would hurt him, but it's fun to irritate him."

Atem laughed, "Why, does he think it's frozen blood?"

Akefia grinned. "Maybe. After all, I was a vampire at my last school. And a werewolf. And both of them drank blood. Well, sort of."

Atem shot him a look, "What?"

Akefia's grin grew. "A shit-tonne of rumours went around. One even said I was a fucking dragon. Hence the tail rumour."

Shaking his head Atem let go of some of the caution that momentarily grasped him. "Why do people even form rumors?"

"I don't know. Because their lives are boring?" Akefia suggested as they entered the building. "So which way is the office?"

Atem adjusted his bag and pointed to the left. "We go that way. Should we tell your brother and his boyfriend slash roommate whatever?"

Akefia glanced behind them. Yami and Marik were still arguing; favourite animals this time.

"A giraffe is better than an elephant!"

"No it's not!"

"Elephants are scared by mice! Mice!"

"Yeah well-"

"Hey, idiots," Akefia called. "Are you coming or not?"

Atem laughed as his brother glared at Akefia. "I'm very well capable of showing them to the office, but considering the distance is small, you might as well lead the way," Yami huffed before continuing to argue with Marik.

Atem chuckled, but nodded and turned to face the way his body was turned again, leading them towards the office.

Akefia glanced between the two, "I don't know if he's just in a bad mood, or not that swell of a guy to know." He commented.

"Who? My brother?" Atem questioned receiving a nod. "That's a tough thing to cure. I'd say he's going through a tough time, but he's been going through it for a while. So I guess if you want to be fair, he's in a bad mood a lot of the time but a good guy?"

Akefia nodded in understanding. "Marik and Bakura are the same most of the time, so I can relate to that." He looked forward again as Atem pushed open the door.

"What do you want, Mr. Sennen?" The attendant asked without even looking up from the book in front of her.

"Um, a few new students and locker numbers for them. One of them is in my class so I'll be showing him around Ma'am." Atem answered her.

The attendant glanced at them. "The Touzoku-Ishtars?" The three nodded. "Where's the fourth?"

"Ryou Touzoku; he's coming in tomorrow," Akefia replied. "He's sick today."

Atem glanced at him but didn't correct him as the attendant sighed. She stood up, picked up three books and three envelopes and handed them to the three. "Homework journal; lose it and you have to buy another for fifteen hundred yen. In the envelope are your timetables, class numbers, locker numbers, locker partners, and locker combinations. Don't lose them." She sat down again.

Bakura and Marik glanced at the envelopes and then at each other. "As much as I hate you fluffy, I'd rather not share a locker with you."

"The sentiment is the same." Bakura muttered.

Atem nudged Akefia as the two tore open their envelopes. "You're sure they're dating?"

Akefia nodded. "They just have a weird way of showing one another that they care," he replied.

Marik got his open first and scanned the information. He grinned at Yami. "Looks like I'm sharing with you, giraffe-hater."

Yami groaned, "Dammit! Why couldn't I have had the albino?"

"Because my locker mate is a guy named Seto Kaiba, which sadly isn't your name." Bakura answered with little interest. "And technically I'm not albino. Brown eyes."

Marik's grin grew. "What's wrong, Yams?" He whined. "I thought we were friends!"

"Shut up," Yami growled, scowling at him, "before I shove my fist down your throat."

Marik's lip quirked into a smirk. "Kinky. I can go for that." Bakura rolled his eyes while Yami gagged and left the office.

Atem rolled his eyes before turning back to Akefia, "Who'd you get stuck with?"

Akefia began to tear open his envelope. "I hope it isn't anyone annoying."

"From Marik and your brother's luck? It probably will be." Atem chuckled. Akefia pulled out the slip of paper and scanned it. Atem raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

Akefia grinned and showed him the paper. "So where's your- sorry, _our_ locker?"

Atem shook his head, "I'll show you later. We'll be late to class if we don't leave now."

Akefia sighed but nodded. "See you guys later," he called to Bakura and Marik as he followed Atem out of the office. They were both in class one.

Atem sneezed right before they got to their class. "Dammit! Happens every damn year."

"What sneezing?" Akefia questioned.

"No. Sneezing right before I get to the classroom." Atem answered. "Come on." He pulled Akefia into the classroom.

Akefia shook his head as he followed Atem. "Is it every time you go into a classroom, or just the first class of the year?"

"First class of every year. It's like a jinx. It never fails!" Atem mumbled bitterly.

Akefia snorted. "Next year, I'll make sure it fails. Somehow. If I even remember."

Atem sighed as they took seats near the back. "I doubt it. No one has been able to stop it yet."

Akefia grinned as they sat down. "Challenge accepted. Next year, you will make it into the classroom without sneezing."

"On the first day." Atem told him. That was when it always happened. Any other time, it was random.

Akefia nodded. "On the first day," he agreed.

Atem grabbed out a paper and a pencil, "You might want to do the same. Pop quiz for Math remember?"

Akefia groaned but took out a piece of paper and a pen as their maths teacher walked into the room.

"So I see that I've had some of you before. As you all know; it's a new term. That means that it's time for a _pop_ quiz!"

The class held their groans. It would only encourage her. "You've all had a two month break, so I expect you to be rearing to go," she called as she handed out the sheets.

Atem rolled his eyes as he glanced at Akefia, "Sorry you got stuck with this."

"You warned me. That's enough." Akefia whispered as they got their papers.

"No talking," their teacher called. "You have twenty minutes! Go!"

Everyone in the class tried their best to answer the questions as accurately as they could. Atem glanced at most of the questions as he answered.

He looked over at Akefia. The other was doing pretty much the same; barely reading the question before answering.

He grabbed his paper and walked up to the teacher almost exactly at the same time Akefia did.

Atem grinned at him as they walked back to their desks. "Not bad timing."

Akefia grinned back, "Yup."

"You were saying about not being good at maths?" Atem raised an eyebrow as he sat down.

"No I said it was annoying." Akefia replied quietly.

"You said you were average."

"I am." Akefia shrugged. "At algebra anyway. Geometry I'm great at. But I don't like it."

Atem rolled his eyes. "I don't understand why you don't like it, but you do so well."

Akefia shrugged. "My mom used to do maths with me a lot. I hated it but she liked it. I still hate it, but I study it for her."

Atem nodded. "I get it."

Akefia grinned slightly. "Thanks." He pulled his timetable out of his pocket and glanced at it. "You guys get mandatory music classes here? Sweet."

Atem watched Akefia a bit curiously. "Your previous school didn't?"

"Nope." Akefia answered with a shake of his head.

Atem hummed. "So what's your favourite colour? So we can become your most hated word; pals."

Akefia stuck out his tongue. "Quit saying pals. But my favourite colour is... Red." He grinned. "What about yours?"

"Silver," Atem replied. "Favourite song?"

"Wolf in Sheep's clothing." Akefia answered, "Yours?"

Atem grinned. "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing," he mimicked. "Favourite food?"

"Steak," Akefia chuckled. "Blue steak. As blue as humanly possible."

Atem scrunched up his nose and shuddered. "That's so nasty! How can you eat it?"

Akefia gave a shrug. "I don't know. I just grew up with hunting, and sometimes i wouldn't cook it completely right. So my dad, instead of having me recook it, he'd make me eat it. So the taste kinda grew on me I guess?"

Atem frowned. "You had odd parents. No offence."

Akefia chuckled slightly. "Yeah, I did. They were great though."

Atem nodded. "I suppose." He wished he could say the same about his. He hoped Akefia's brother didn't ask any questions about this with Yami around.

"So, what's yours?" Akefia questioned.

"My what?" Atem asked, snapping back to the current conversation.

"Favourite food," Akefia answered. "What else would I be asking?"

Atem shook his head. "Nothing. Sorry, I lost track of things. Uh... I like Hawaiian pizza."

Akefia stuck out his tongue. "I'm sorry. No. No. Pineapple does not belong on a pizza. It's disgusting."

Atem placed a hand on his chest. "What? How dare you. Pineapple definitely belongs on pizza. Only on pizza."

"No. Nope. Pineapple belongs in ice cream. Not on pizza," Akefia insisted. "Pineapple on pizza is just wrong."

"Ice cream? Ew! It's pizza!" Atem argued, slightly grossed out.

"Ugh. No. No, not on pizza," Akefia insisted. "Sweet and savoury don't mix!"

Atem shook his head. "But the ham and the pineapple. It's the best part. What if we take turns ordering it, and just agree to disagree on which is better?"

Akefia frowned but reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Fine. Tonight at seven?"

Atem tilted his head slightly, "Maybe. I'm not sure what my brother and I have planned."

Akefia grinned. "Pass me your phone." Atem frowned but handed it to him. Akefia began typing and soon passed it back. "There's my number. If you're free, text me." The bell rang.

"If you haven't already handed up the quiz, hand them up on your way out and I'll give them back to you tomorrow," their teacher called as everyone began to pack up.

Atem nodded as he stuffed the unneeded notebook back into his bag. "So, what does the rest of your schedule look like?"

Akefia glanced at it. "Music, gym, study hall and foreign language. You?"

Atem hummed, remembering what he picked for this year, "History, psychology, study hall and gym. When is your lunch? Maybe we'll have it together."

Akefia glanced again. "Fourth period. Yours?"

Atem nodded. "Yeah, we have it together. I hope you brought your own lunch or money; the food here's shit."

Akefia hummed. "School lunches tend to be."

Atem chuckled in agreement. "True."

"Are we allowed to go into the city for lunch?" Akefia asked.

"Only if you have special permission. Or if you're with someone who has it. So, if you hang out with me, yes." Atem answered.

Akefia grinned. "Perfect."

Atem nodded with a matching grin. "Yup."

Akefia pulled his bag onto his shoulder. "See you at lunch."

* * *

"Would you leave me alone?" Yami groaned, looking at Marik and Bakura. "I don't want to have to look over to see you two making out in every class."

Bakura grinned, "We would offer to let you join, but you seem like the type to turn tail and be more annoyed by the offer."

Yami scowled at him. "Just piss off and don't choose my team - just this class!" Gym. One of his only good subjects. And they were threatening to mess it up. No. Way. In. _Hell_.

Bakura and Marik shared a look. "Aww, look Mar, the Prince has his panties in a bunch." They'd been teasing him with that because he'd been being high demanding.

"You're right Baku. Let's do what he asked." Marik told them, getting dubious looks from the both of them.

"What?" Bakura questioned.

"Let's annihilate his team." Marik replied, stating the obvious with a little hair flip.

"You're not going to beat me," Yami snorted. "Especially not in basketball."

Marik raised an eyebrow and strode closer to him. "Really? I may be wearing pants, but that doesn't mean that I can't kick your ass."

Yami frowned, about to ask about the clothing comment, when their gym teacher blew his whistle. "Basketball; team captains. Yami, you're blue captain. New kid, Marik, you're red captain.

Yami started to call out the people he knew are good players. He needed to win. He wouldn't let anything change the fact that he ruled gym class.

Marik's sharp eye noted who Yami was calling. Tall. Burly. Friends of his? Maybe.

He glanced forward. He picked Bakura, naturally. Then he started picking a mix. Tall and lanky. Small and lithe.

Yami frowned slightly as he tried to figure out Marik's game plan. How was that guy picking his team? By the time the last players were picked, Yami pretty much had the players he initially wanted. If all went right, he'd win.

"Alright, everyone form a circle, captains in the middle." They obliged. Yami glared while Marik smirked. The gym teacher stood in the middle, whistle in his mouth. He blew the whistle and threw the ball up. Both Yami and Marik jumped for it.

Marik caught the ball and instantly threw it to Bakura who dribbled it as he ran.

One of Yami's team tried to take it off him, but Bakura slammed it back to Marik. Marik jumped, caught it and threw it at the hoop while in mid air. It went in. Three points.

Marik's team cheers as they gather with more courage than they began with on their side of the court again. Hardly anybody ever scores against Yami.

Their cheers died a bit when the ball was suddenly gone and Yami was slamming it into their net. He glared at Marik from across the court.

Two to three.

Marik and Bakura shared a look. "Plan B Bakura!" Marik shouted. Yami searched for the white haired kid to find he had disappeared.

Suddenly, Bakura was behind him. "Hello, Prince."

Before Bakura could grab the ball, Yami passed it to one of his teammates. Hassleberry. The sophomore darted to the net and slammed it in. Four to three.

Marik huffed before he nodded and Yami lost sight of him. It was kind of hard to search the court with Bakura blocking his every move. "Move dammit!"

"Why? Getting annoyed Prince?" Bakura taunted blocking his vision of the ball and hopes of finding Marik again.

Yami growled. He feinted to the left and darted to the right, past Bakura. Bakura growled and sprinted after him, but Yami was already at the other end of the court. He blocked Marik's three-pointer and passed to another of his teammates.

A lanky kid on Marik's team somehow manage to have stolen the ball, "B-Bakira!" He called out tossing it, not quite remembering the kid's name.

Luckily for them, it caused most of Yami's team to burst out into laughter so Bakura could catch the ball. He passed to Marik who passed to him; before he passed it back. Marik aimed and shot the ball.

Yami blocked it again. Marik narrowed his eyes. Perfect. Yami was offence and defence, and his team expected him to be all over the court and pass to them. "Bakura!" He called. "Strategy five. You three, offence. The rest of you, defence."

Bakura nodded. Disappear. Pass to Marik. Don't get caught.

Yami tilted his head slightly and glanced around the court. He wasn't shocked to see Marik's team instantly doing what he was said; blocking and attempting to make sure their team didn't score again. He dribbled the ball before passing it to one of his teammates again to see Marik's next move.

The ball suddenly was in Marik's hands. Yami cursed and pelted after him.

Marik ran before jumping, slam dunking the ball. "Ha!"

Four to five. Yami's eyes flamed. He snatched the ball and hurled it down the court to Tori. She shot it from where she caught it. Three points. Seven to five.

Yami smirked victoriously until the ball was suddenly in Bakura's hands. And he was easily making his way through the team and to the other side of the court before shooting. Three points with Marik catching the ball.

Yami frowned. The more he tried to watch Bakura, the harder it became. He was like a phantom. That was it. Watch Marik. He stopped Syrus. "Stay on Marik. Don't let him get the ball." Yami grabbed the ball and passed it to Tristan. The taller boy dunked it.

Nine to eight. Marik raised his hands to guard Tristan. This kid, he could tell, had to be on the school's team.

Bakura and Blaire nodded. Blaire snatched the ball and passed it to Bakura. Bakura redirected it to Marik, but Syrus cut Marik off and passed the ball to Tori. Three points. Twelve to eight.

Yami wasn't smirking. He was grinning. He was... enjoying this. He hadn't had competition in a long time.

Bakura scowled lightly as he blended back in. He was going to have to make the shots himself but stay hidden. The teams struggled for a couple minutes, suddenly enthused to try to win, giving Bakura his chance to scheme with Marik. He got close enough to talk without being seen. "Plan seventeen. You distract. We need the few that can actually shoot hoops to be able to help me just in case so keep them back here guarded in case I miss so that they can reshoot."

Marik nodded in agreement. In minutes, he had three people on him. Bakura shot a ball from the left side of the court and darted to the right before anyone saw him.

The ball hit the ring of the basket before bouncing back onto the court. Marik darted after it, just to keep Yami from seeing that he was still only a distraction.

Yami growled and caught it before Marik. Marik tried blocking him, but Yami bounced the ball through Marik's legs to Tori. Tori caught it and shot again. It rebounded but Tristan caught it and dunked it. Fourteen to eight.

Bakura scowled at the score. He quickly stole the ball from a boy who had caught it on the other team and made it all the way across court before anyone realised the ball was at the other end. Bakura shot and score three points. Fourteen to eleven.

Marik's teeth were grinding. Bakura shot him a look. "Chill," he muttered. "We'll win. Don't get pissed; he's probably been playing for years and you don't know your strength yet. It's only been a few years."

Marik took a deep breath, "Yeah whatever. Just continue what you're doing. I'm good."

Bakura nodded and walked down to the other end of the court again.

Marik took another breath. He could do this it was a game. It was fine.

He could feel Bakura's eyes on him. He waited for the ball this time. Bakura hit it to him and he darted down the court. Yami was there and he jumped at the same time as Marik to block him.

But Marik grinned not letting the ball go and turning in the air to face away from Yami to pass it back to Bakura who shot and scored again. Fourteen to thirteen.

Just as Yami stole the ball back, the coach blew the whistle. "Okay everybody, good game! The bell will ring in about twenty minutes, so go shower and change."

Yami smirked at Marik. He won. But inside, he was raging. He almost lost. Almost lost. Almost lost. He swallowed hard as he walked towards the shower rooms.

He couldn't lose. Sports were the _one single thing_ he had at this school. They kept him fit. Sharp. Alert. If he lost it, he would have _nothing_.

If he had nothing those beasts won. They'd already take over him not being able to be able to handle anything emotionally, they couldn't take sports and hunting. _His_ normalcy.

"Hey." He looked over his shoulder as Marik jogged up to him. The tanned boy clapped his shoulder and grinned. "Good game."

Yami growled and shook him off. "Whatever."

Marik snorted, "Oh come on, you know we gave you a good time."

"Just leave me alone," Yami snapped. One point. One point and he would have drew. Two points and he would have lost. It hadn't been that close in years.

Marik huffed, "You won. I don't know why you're the one being a spoiled brat." And he marched away ahead of Yami leaving Bakura with him.

Bakura snorted as he watched Marik storm off. "He's sort of right. You won. Relax, or you'll make him want to beat you even more."

Yami rolled his eyes, "You're saying that cause you're dating him."

"Exactly. He's taking the defeat pretty well considering a few days ago my brother beat him in a video game and he threw the controller at the TV, punched my brother, and left." Bakura explained in a bored tone. "So yeah, he'd have you beat at being a spoil sport if it came to it."

Yami rolled his eyes again. "He's not that bad."

Bakura raised an eyebrow. The kind of eyebrow-raise in books that very few people could pull off. The kind that Yami suspected could take hundreds of years to perfect. "Have you met my brother? He's a fucking bunny. The cute ones that sit on your lap quietly and just act cute unless you piss them off. And he punched him because he lost at Mario Kart." Bakura shoved his hands in his pockets. "Ryou's probably lucky the brat doesn't know his own strength yet. Or Marik is. I don't know if Ryou would have started a fight."

"Is there a point to this?" Yami folded his arms.

Bakura smirked. "He likes you. That will push him to beat you even more. If you act like a spoiled brat about it, it'll push him to beat you _even more_. So relax."

Yami rubbed his forehead, "So if I chill he'll stop being as annoying?"

"No. No, he can't be less annoying." Bakura sighed. "But if you chill, he won't get more annoying."

Yami groaned slightly, "Whatever. I just don't see why you guys have to bug me. Just because you live near me doesn't mean you have to annoy me."

Bakura smirked. "It's because you're fun to annoy. Not as fun as my 'locker buddy' probably will be, but still fun."

Yami cracked a small smile, "Yeah, he'll be nice to annoy. Move his stuff an inch, and he freaks."

Bakura's smirk grew. "Thanks for that information." He began walking a bit faster. "I'll be a few minutes late for lunch. If anyone asks, just tell them I'm... redecorating the locker."

Yami snorted, "Whatever." He couldn't wait to see how this played out. "Just don't take forever."

"Sure thing, Prince," Bakura cackled as he walked away.

Yami rolled his eyes. He could watch if he changed fast enough. While it was a fun game, it was hardly enough to make him sweat. But he was hungry. Nah. Not worth it. He wanted to watch the after-effects of the locker-rearranging. Seto would freak.

* * *

 _DV: Hope you guys enjoyed. I'll post the next chapter soon, I promise. Sorry it's taking so long! Please vote and review. See you next time, Killer Queens!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey. Sorry I keep forgetting to update this; I'll try and post a few chapters soon. We've gone ahead a good bit so it's weird editing this. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Bakura opened his locker and glanced inside. Two shelves; the bottom one was empty. The top had books and files neatly organised by subject letter. Smirking, he started to reorganize the books in no particular order. That should screw with his locker buddy.

Before he could even finish, he felt someone grab his shoulder and he was slammed against the locker. Steely blue eyes met his. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think you're doing? Laying your hands on another student is harassment, isn't it?" Bakura questioned.

"And going through my things is invasion of property. I could have you suspended for that."

Bakura rolled his eyes, "I'm not going through your things."

"Oh, you're not?" The brunet questioned.

"Right. I'm screwing with it to piss you off." Bakura taunted with a smirk, "By the looks of it, I did great, and you are Seto Kaiba, my locker mate."

Seto narrowed his eyes. "I don't have a 'locker mate'. I made it perfectly clear that I'm not getting one."

Bakura's smirk grew. "Oh, it's going to be so much easier to screw with you than I thought."

Seto pressed him harder into the locker. "Mess with my things again, and I'll have you suspended."

"No you-"

"I run a multi-trillion _dollar_ company that operates all around the world," Seto said lowly, his smirk matching Bakura's. "There are no security cameras that point this way. Whose word do you think they'll take? The CEO's, or the street rat's?"

Bakura grinned. "And you think that scares me. If they'll suspend me on stupid shit like that, I'll carry a camera and sue their lazy asses, and yours. Either way I'll continually be a pain in your ass."

"Sue me, and I can end the case with you in a mental institute." Seto's smirk grew. "Be a pain in my ass, and I can quite literally have you killed." He placed his free hand on Bakura's throat. "No one would ask a single question about it."

Bakura tilted his head slightly before another smirk made it's way onto his face, "I could get use to this."

Seto forced himself to keep his expression cold. He liked this. Bakura was a spitfire - probably insane too. He liked the competition rather than the usual 'oh no, it's Seto Kaiba; be careful and don't do anything about him' reaction.

But he wasn't sharing his locker. "Did you move your things in yet?" He squeezed Bakura's throat slightly. "No speaking. Nod or shake your head."

Bakura narrowed his eyes, not moving an inch. He glared into Seto's steely, clear blue eyes, preparing to knee him in a very hurtful place, if the other pressed any harder.

Seto pressed his legs against Bakura's to hold them in place, as though sensing what he was going to do. "Well?" He squeezed slightly tighter.

Bakura swallowed slightly, his Adam's apple rubbing against Seto's hand. Bakura started to nod yes. No matter what, he was moving into that locker.

Seto's eyes narrowed further. "Then get it out. You're not sharing a locker with me." His grip tightened slightly. "Clear?"

Bakura laughed, even with the force on his throat he laughed. "No."

"And why not?" Seto hissed.

Bakura was still laughing, even as Seto pressed harder. "Because this is my locker too. And I'm not going to switch just because you threw a bitch fit."

Seto growled, "I could destroy you, and there would be nothing you could do."

"Then why don't you do it? Instead of threatening to, do it now and prove it; otherwise that is my locker too." Bakura spat.

Seto held his glare. A smirk crossed his lips and he roughly released Bakura. "Not bad."

Bakura rubbed his neck, his breath coming a bit faster than usual. "This shit better not bruise. You'll be expecting a screwed up locker more often if it does," He threatened.

Seto's smirk grew. "If it does, just say it's from a hickey. Then again, I doubt you'll bruise if it hasn't started already with your pale skin."

Bakura crossed his arms. "It'll probably be faint, but that won't stop my boyfriend from seeing it." He narrowed his eyes, "Plus a hickey, that he didn't give?"

"Well I didn't know you had a boyfriend, now did I?" Seto's smirk was gone. "And a bit of advice; don't flaunt your sexuality here. I'm fine with it. But this school?" Seto's lip curled. "It'll rip you limb from limb once its students find out you're not straight."

Bakura rolled his eyes, pushing off the wall a bit, "We can handle ourselves. It might be hard with how much anybody can pick up on him being gay. But either way, if they try to touch either of us, they'll be waking up in the infirmary."

Seto hummed. "Whatever. Good luck. Especially when he starts wearing the girls' uniform."

Bakura cocked his head slightly, "What makes you say he'll be wearing it?" He knew Seto wasn't wrong but still.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "With a gender fluid sibling, you think I don't know when someone's uncomfortable in their clothes?" He snorted. "And I heard about his match with Yami. Sounds like you two did a number on him."

Bakura smirked nodded, "Oh yeah. That was _great_. Marik can be a real brat when he loses and yet he loves annoying that kid so much that he has been making it his mission all day." Bakura shook his head as he chuckled. "So how many people have tried to give your sibling shit knowing that they're your sibling?"

Seto smirked. "One. They'll be coming out of the intensive care unit soon enough; I sent them flowers last month. They may or may not be allergic to them."

Bakura shook his head, covering his mouth as a wave of vicious laughter tried to bubble out of him. "That's terrible."

"So am I." Seto snorted, folding his arms. "And the prick deserved it."

Bakura nodded. "I'd do the same."

Seto hummed, his scrutinising gaze scanning Bakura. "You can share the locker with me. For now."

Bakura snorted. "I was going to without your permission asshole."

"If you did, you would have found all of your belongings in the toilet before the day was over."

"And you'd have found yours in the same place. Give me shit, I'll give it back."

Seto's smirk returned and he turned away. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Bakura yawned, "At least one of us will. You seem pretty boring except for when you're throwing people against walls."

Seto's smirk only grew. "This is amusing." He began walking away and called over his shoulder, "Just wait until someone pisses me off in class."

Bakura snorted as he grabbed his bag, opening it. "Yeah sure." He called back. He had a small container of sealed meat in here somewhere, and he knew he'd snap at someone or something if he didn't eat. He glanced around before quickly opening it. He bit off about half of it and put the rest aside for later.

There, that was his lunch. He put the math book in the locker on the bottom as he finished chewing what was in his mouth. He shut the locker and stood to go to class.

Then he opened it again to check his timetable. He found himself glancing at Seto's as he did so. It was their last class. The same one. Business.

He nodded and put Seto's back - in case the bastard checked - and kept his own in case he needed it.

He quickly made his way to the business classroom and slipped into the last available seat just in time. The one right next to Seto.

Seto glanced up and glared slightly. "Are you following me?"

"I've got the same class as you, and this was the last seat," Bakura sighed, resting his head on his hand.

Seto rolled his eyes, turning back to his laptop. It seemed uncanny for the teacher to just ignore a student not preparing to listen to her.

A short but thin woman came into the room with a stack of book and a briefcase. "Alright class! Here are the work books you're scheduled to get. By tomorrow, you should have the first three pages done. The introduction is easy and should you have any questions, ask."

One student, a girl with blueish hair about two rows over and four seats up by the window, raised her hand, "Um, excuse me Mrs. Nosoka, why aren't you doing it with us?"

A small smile filled the woman's pale lips as she set the stack down on one student's desk. "Take one and pass it on. Now," she said eyeing the girl, "That is a very important question with a very important answer. The first rule of business is to learn to do it yourself. Never rely on someone unless you're sure you can do that. So, how can you rely on me to teach if I can't rely on you to learn?" The girl looked down and mumbled a quick apology. "No, Miho, I don't want you to apologise. I want you to answer me. I don't know you yet, and you don't know me." The teacher placed her hands on her hips. "In this class, all of your learning will be self-directed. I will collect homework and run through chapters with you, I will give you notes, and if you have any questions I will be /happy/ to answer them. But you need to do the work yourself." She glanced at Seto but looked away again.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. So he _was_ someone important? He must be for him to be allowed go on his laptop in class. Bakura tried to peek at the screen.

Seto raised an eyebrow. Was he seriously trying to figure out what he was doing? Bakura caught a glimpse of a coded wall before glaring at Seto. The other's smirk confirmed that he stopped the other from seeing what he was doing. Obviously programming.

But then he saw Bakura's eyes scan the code and a small smirk worked its way onto the albino's face.

Seto narrowed his eyes and turned the screen, making the albino lean further out of his seat. That led Mrs. Nosoka to march over to them.

She glared sternly at Bakura, "Just what is so interesting that you are leaning practically all the way out of your desk?"

Bakura skillfully dipped down and picked up a- when did he drop his pencil? Seto frowned.

"Sorry. I just dropped my pencil."

Mrs. Nosoka hummed in disbelief, "Pick it up quicker." She made her way back to her desk swiftly and opened her briefcase, pulling out a stack of papers.

Bakura snorted as Seto typed a bit faster. "When did you drop that?" He questioned quietly.

"Drop it? It's been there since before I walked in." Bakura snorted as he grabbed his workbook and passed the stack. He saw Seto's in the locker already.

Seto raised an eyebrow, not looking away from his computer. "Pretty observant of you."

"Pretty ignorant of you not to have seen it." Bakura smirked. "And you got a digit wrong. It should be 001010001010100101001 on the third line. Not 001011001010100101001."

Seto checked the third line and huffed slightly. "Well, I would have seen it if you weren't distracting me." He spared a glance at Bakura. "And a pencil, is easily something to miss."

Bakura's smirk grew. "But I didn't miss it. And you did." He leaned on his hand again. "So what are you? Son of a billionaire or some hot-shot actor slash next-Bill-Gates? Because those are the only reasons I can think of that the teacher would let you go on your laptop in class."

Seto rolled his eyes. "No. I'm the head of multiple multi-trillion dollar companies, as I already told you. I worked my ass off to get there. Now let me work."

Bakura snorted. "You're like sixteen. You couldn't be the head."

"Oh, on paper I'm not. On paper a guy who gets paid a fraction of my salary called Robert White is. The public and media and banks know I'm the head but you know what?" Seto smirked. "They can't do a damn thing about it."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "And how did you do this incredible feat?"

"I took the chance that my predecessor gave me and I killed him." Seto turned back to his computer. "Now I'm the fifth - almost fourth - richest man in the world. I can buy anyone's silence."

Bakura snorted, "I highly doubt you killed anyone, let alone a parent."

Seto growled lowly. "Predecessor does not make the guy my parent. Now shut up." He hissed as he realised yet another mistake. He quickly corrected it and scanned the code again to make sure there were no more.

Bakura could see he agitated Seto. A small smirk still filled his face, "So what bullshit are you programing?"

"Bother me once more and I'll have you suspended under the no distraction policy."

"You couldn't," Bakura snorted.

"Yes I-" Seto paused as a stray paper ball hit him. He turned and glared at the kid that threw it; the poor guy was pale and trembling.

Mrs. Nosaka noticed. "Something wrong?"

"He threw a paper ball."

She sighed. "Yuma, to the principal's office."

Seto turned back to his computer with a small smirk as Yuma left the room. "That was from a paper ball. Imagine what I could do to you for distracting me from my work."

Bakura snorted, "You have another error right there. I think you're distracting yourself."

You're distracting me by talking to me," Seto snapped as he fixed it.

"You're distracting yourself by responding to me.' Bakura grinned. "And you're not going to tell her. If you were, you'd have done so already."

Seto snorted, "No. I'll still do it. Shut up."

"Well I don't believe you." Bakura replied watching Seto's screen, "So what exactly are you trying to make?"

Seto sighed and glanced at him. His speed lowered slightly and he looked back at the screen. "A game."

Bakura hummed with a nod as he tried to identify the code now that he had more of a basic understanding of what it'll be, "I figured it'd be something along those lines. A few of your codes are weapons." He could identify others, but he was more interested in that aspect. He raised an eyebrow. Silver crossbows. Daggers. Sharp axes. Bows and arrows. "What are you making? A vampire hunting game?"

Seto paused for a second to shoot a look at Bakura, "Well, why not? It's a common selling theme and if it's well created from a company like mine, it'll be sure to sell."

"Chill; I'm not judging. You're just going a bit cliché, aren't you?" Bakura raised an eyebrow. "If vampires existed, those old silver and garlic and holy water methods wouldn't work."

Seto hummed, "And you would know how?"

"Because vampires are cool and better than werewolves so they wouldn't stick to myths."

"Really?" Seto questioned with an eye roll.

Bakura nodded with a grin. "Really."

"That sounds completely idiotic." Seto told him. "No proof."

"Oh well. I still think that they wouldn't work." Bakura stated.

Seto rolled his eyes. "Well I beg to differ."

Bakura scanned the code and frowned. "Some of those look pretty detailed and researched for a video game."

Seto hummed, an eyebrow arching. "I like the details to be well researched. I don't need some idiot online trying to tell me something is wrong because I didn't do enough research."

Bakura nodded slowly. "Well if you're fitting with clichés then that round box with the cowhide top isn't meant for storing a vampire head until you can burn it."

Seto raised his second eyebrow. "I'll humour you. What's it for?"

Bakura hummed, "Well according to clichés, multiple things. Which ones do you want me to explain?"

"Well, because you haven't answered in the first place, all of it." Seto replied, pausing his coding to look at Bakura, "What would a round box with cowhide be good for?"

Bakura held up one finger. "That's meant to be covered with Dead Man's blood which paralyses vampires." He held up a second finger. "It was actually mainly used for humiliation in the middle ages. They would paralyse a human thought to be a vampire and tie them down with their head on that in the middle of town." He held up a third finger. "It's for decapitation. The sides are extremely sharp. Force a vampire's neck down on it and the Dead Man's blood kicks in, keeping them paralysed and slowly decapitating them as they can't lift their head from the blade." His grin widened.

Seto hummed, "Okay. I'll look into it. Otherwise I'm leaving it alone." He turned back to his screen.

"Oh come on, you can't tell me after that you don't believe me!" Bakura huffed.

"You gave no viable sources." Seto replied.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Check it up in... one moment, which one of them was it in." He paused, mouthing words. "Parallel Myths by J. F. Bierlein."

Seto had read that book. He had skimmed over the use of the round box but now that Bakura was mentioning it, he recalled some of what the albino was stating. He scowled. "How do you know?"

Bakura grinned. "I was a vampire at my old school. Or rather, people thought I was because of the way I look. So I went out of my way to play up to that to freak people out. Any project was either on vampires or blood. Even in Geography, I always did a project on Transylvania. One kid who had a locker beside me literally fainted when I brought cranberry juice to school one day."

Seto snorted, "Gods, you sound like a troublemaker. Interesting, but a troublemaker."

"Oh, you'll find that I am, my dear locker mate." Bakura leaned back in his chair. "I intend on doing the exact same thing here. I can get a kid to faint from the same thing in less than a month."

"Is that a bet?" Seto questioned.

"I dunno, do you want it to be?" Bakura asked as he folded his arms behind his head.

Seto smirked. "I don't take bets that I would lose." He leaned forward on his hands. "Get that 'kid' to be Atem or Yami Sennen, or Kek Kosey, and I'll take it."

Bakura frowned. "Kek Kosey?" Seto pointed to a boy by the window twirling his pen with wild blonde hair, tanned skin and- holy shit, he was a second Marik.

Bakura eyed the kid before turning back to Seto. "I doubt any of them would faint. My brother met Atem when he was covered in fake blood; I seriously doubt they'd faint at me pretending to be a vampire."

Seto's smirk grew. "That's the fun in the challenge."

Bakura eyed Kek once more before shaking his head. "Not worth my effort."

"And here I thought you'd be interesting." Seto commented, typing faster.

"I'd probably be so convincing, that they'd try to kill me. They don't seem the types to scare easily." Bakura explained, "Vampire or not, I'd rather live than test how safe I am."

Seto glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before nodding. "Fair."

Bakura finally turned to his book and started flipping through it. "You probably have most of your book done, don't you?"

"Everything except the last page. I got all of my books sent out a week early."

Bakura snorted. "Oh, so that you can do your game work in class?"

"No. I'd be allowed to do it anyway. I just wanted to get it behind me before school started so I didn't have to play the catch-up game."

Nodding, Bakura shut his book. "Then it should be pretty easy to get ahead in this class, if it's only the workbook. Projects and tests, are probably going to be thrown in too. So if I complete this by Friday, I won't have anything to do until she gives us the other shit."

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Think you can get it all done by then without giving up?"

"I'm used to it." Bakura folded his arms behind his head.

"And yet you just sit there." Seto commented. "Very productive."

"I don't work well during school. Better outside." Bakura shrugged. "Need any more help with your game?"

"No. I've programmed enough things to know how to do this alone." Seto told him.

"So you mean you just need pay more attention?"

Seto huffed. "You just want an excuse to show me more vampire shit, don't you?"

Bakura grinned, Well, why not?"

Seto rolled his eyes but nodded. "Fine." He shifted over slightly so Bakura could sit at his table.

Bakura quirked an eyebrow, "What's wrong with me sitting over here?"

"Do you not want to be able to see the laptop to make sure you're seeing the right items?" Seto raised an eyebrow.

Bakura bit his tongue to keep himself from saying anything about abnormal vision. "Whatever." He muttered as he moved his chair over.

The class murmured quietly. No one sits _with_ Seto Kaiba. Especially so close. Bakura rolled his eyes and stared at the screen, ignoring the class. Seto ignored them as well. Ms. Nosaka clapped her hands to regain the class's attention but didn't protest about Bakura.

Bakura pointed at the silver crossbow, "Silver is usually for werewolves if you're sticking to the clichés."

"Then what would you recommend for vampires?"

"Sterling silver rather than regular silver," Bakura replied.

"Why?" Seto questioned.

"It'll give more power behind the silver items, especially if you use anything like dead man's blood. And etch crosses into the silver, and it'll affect them more; according to legends." Bakura explained.

Seto hummed and nodded, typing the change into the computer. He would make a batch of both; the original and Bakura's edits. He would use whatever worked better. Bakura's eyes trailed to the top of the screen and froze there. "What's the game called?"

"Silver Crosses." Seto finished typing in the adjustments. "Anything else?"

Bakura hesitated. "I'll be back in a few minutes." He stood up and quickly left the room, muttering, "Bathroom," to Ms. Nosaka when she asked where he was going.

He hurried to the bathrooms.

Seto had to know something about the Silver Crosses association. There was no way that he was just doing a vampire hunting game and the name of it was the same. Coincidences don't happen.

He rushed over to a sink and started splashing water onto his face. He just had to calm down. He yanked his phone out of his pocket and dialed Marik's number.

The second he picked up, Bakura hissed into the phone, "Marik, I don't care where the fuck you are; get your ass to the second floor bathroom _now_." He hung up. He looked up to the mirror. He was paler than usual. He took a deep breath as he felt his nerves heightening.

This was bad. Really bad. They thought this place was _safe_. Dammit!

After a few minutes, Marik pushed open the door. "What's going- Shit, are you okay?"

Bakura growled slightly, "Shut the damn door idiot!"

Marik instantly did so before rushing over to Bakura, "Hey, tell me what's wrong. I can't help if I don't know."

Bakura ran a hand through his hair, gripping it tightly. "There are fucking hunters here," he hissed. "Silver Crosses hunters!"

Marik's eyes widened. "Are you sure? What happened?"

"The prick I share the locker with; he said he was making a vampire game and that it was called Silver Crosses," Bakura snapped. "That's not a coincidence. It can't be."

"Kura," Marik called softly, "it could be. We scouted this place before we moved and heard nothing about then being here. It'll be fine as long as we're careful." He pulled Bakura into a hug. "It's not like any of us attack humans, so we should be fine. Calm down."

Bakura took a few deep breaths, resting his head against Marik's shoulder. "We didn't _hear_ anything about them. Jesse and Jaden _aren't_ the most reliable sources. And maybe they don't know; they're vegetarian so Silver Crosses might not have bothered them."

Marik smiled slightly, "Exactly. Ryou is completely vegetarian, so he's good, and the rest of us go after animals when we use all the blood that places like Red Cross gives us. We don't attack humans. _We'll be fine_."

Bakura shook his head but muttered, "Fine," and pulled away slightly. "And do you know someone called Kek Kosey? He looks like you."

Marik's eyes widened. "Kek Kosey? He's not here, is he?"

Bakura nodded with an eye roll, "I wouldn't have mentioned him otherwise. So, how do you know him?"

"He's my cousin!"

Bakura frowned. "I didn't know you had a cousin."

Marik rolled his eyes. "What age is he? He was three when I last saw him. I didn't even know he was still alive; it's why I never mentioned him."

Bakura gave him a shrug, "About seventeen. He's in my business class."

"Shit." Marik ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. Okay, I just need to avoid him."

Bakura shrugged, "It'll be unlikely that he recognizes you. He was three."

Marik sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He grinned slightly. "We really need to calm down. It'll be fine."

Bakura snorted, "Yeah, you do. Anyway, what class did I pull you out of?"

"Home Ec." Marik rolled his eyes. "You didn't pull me away from anything important anyway. Just sewing."

Bakura frowned. "But you like sewing."

"Yeah, but I'm the only boy in the class aside from Yami and she's making us make shorts instead of a skirt."

Bakura sighed, "Yeah, this school is going to be more judgmental about the crossdressing and us dating than our other school was."

Marik rolled his eyes. "Fun." A grin stretched onto his face. "How about we play a bit of a prank to show them what they're in for?"

Bakura's eyes lit up. "What have you got in mind?"

* * *

 **Sorry, I know that this is only one paragraph long, but wattpad deletes a lot of messages and we need to edit a good bit. I promise I'll post more soon. Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys. Sorry for the late update. At least it's sooner than the others, right?**

 **CW: Fighting, strangling, insults towards those who cross-dress/dress in drag (if I've missed any, let me know in the comments).**

* * *

 **Silver Crosses  
by  
JazzyMin97 and The Disposable Villain**

 **Chapter Four**

* * *

Ryou was waiting for Marik and Bakura when they returned. " _Sit_." He glared at them as they closed the door behind them.

Marik crossed his arms but sat on the couch, Bakura right behind him. "Come on Ry, there isn't anything to be pissed off at us for! It's their faults for being judgmental pricks!" Bakura whined.

"The school called! How did you even manage detention on the first day! They haven't even planned out detentions yet!" Ryou's glare darkened and he folded his arms.

Bakura huffed. "We played a prank. It's not a big deal, Ryou."

"You dumped a thirty litre vat of glue covered rainbow sparkles over students off the roof of the school as they left!" Ryou snapped. "And then poured slushies over them after that!" Honestly, after he had put the phone down, he had laughed a bit. It was pretty funny. But they weren't about to learn that. "How did you even- I don't know if I even want to _know_ how you two idiots managed that!"

Bakura snorted, "Oh come on, you have to admit that it was funny. It was glue and slushies. It's not like it was blood and gore. Besides, it's their fault."

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "Really? Did the entire student body slam you into a locker? Or throw your books in the toilet? Or try to throw _you_ in the toilet? Or did you two just get bored and decide to throw yourselves a 'Welcome to Domino' party?"

Marik huffed, not looking at either of them. "No. They are judgmental idiots, who should go die."

Ryou's eyes narrowed. "Really?" He repeated. "So what happened?"

Bakura sighed, "It's one of those schools that hate anyone who isn't straight, and they wouldn't let Marik make a skirt in home ec."

"We haven't even talked to the principal about Marik wearing the girls' uniform yet. The teacher probably thought he was taking the piss." He looked at Marik. "Which you do a lot. No offence."

"Not about clothes," Marik protested.

"But they didn't know that," Ryou pointed out before turning back to Bakura. "And even if it is that type of school, did anything actually happen to you today?" Bakura didn't reply. "I'm waiting."

Bakura rolled his eyes, "Just shut up. It was a small prank. We got detention."

"Bakura." Ryou's arms fell to his sides. "It was 'small pranks' that got us caught in Ireland. We can't afford to get noticed here."

Bakura growled, "Don't you think I know that?! Just leave it alone Ryou." He got up off the couch and made his way to his room.

"Bakura!" Ryou protested but Bakura ignored him and closed the door. He looked at Marik, but the younger boy just followed Bakura. Ryou sighed and made his way into the kitchen where Akefia was sitting. "Was I too hard on them?" He mumbled.

Akefia snorted, "No, Bakura's just being pissy and Marik's sensitive about the topic. Don't take it personally."

Ryou sighed again and nodded. "I just don't want this to end the same way as it did in Ireland."

Akefia nodded, "Yeah. Hopefully it won't get so bad this time."

Ryou nodded, resting his forehead against the table. After a minute, he stood up and grabbed a pot from one of the boxes labelled by messy markered writing. "I'll start dinner."

Akefia smiled at his younger brother's need to do something. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Ryou shook his head. "No, I want to." He gave Akefia a smile. "Will you call them in a few minutes?"

"Yeah, sure," Akefia answered. "Need anything else?"

Ryou shook his head. He took three bags of blood, a few vegetables, and three slabs of meat out of the fridge.

Akefia watched his brother as he put everything on the counter to organise what he was doing. "Are you warming the blood up at all?"

"For you and me, yes. Marik and Bakura prefer it cold though." Ryou heated some water. "And I don't care how much they complain about the taste, tell them that they're eating at least one vegetable tonight."

Akefia snorted. "Good luck with that. You Bakura has always hated bunny food."

"Humans eat it too!" Ryou argued.

"Even when he was human he hated it," Akefia laughed.

"Too bad." Ryou pulled his hair into a ponytail. "None of us like it, but it's good to eat it."

"Yeah. You keep telling us that." Akefia nodded.

Ryou sighed and began heating part of the blood and the vegetables. "Go see if you can get them to set the table."

Akefia grumbled slightly before standing. "I'll check."

Ryou smiled at him. "Thanks, Kefie."

Akefia returned the smile. "Focus on not over cooking our food."

"I know." Ryou turned back to the food and stirred it. After a few minutes, he took off the vegetables and the blood, and began to dish out the servings.

He gave himself more vegetables than the others, knowing they didn't really like eating them.

He poured the blood into pint glasses and placed a slab of warm but uncooked beef on each plate. His slab was smaller than the others.

He sighed as he set the table. He should have known it would take Akefia forever to get them. As he set out the plates, the three came downstairs, Akefia pulling Marik and Bakura.

"Come on! You know you need to eat." Akefia groaned as he pulled them along.

"I'm not eating a fucking carrot," Bakura snapped.

Ryou frowned at him. "Yes you are. Now eat before I toss it out. All of it."

Bakura stuck out his tongue at Ryou but sat down.

Marik sat down as well. "Thanks for the food," he mumbled before taking a sip of his blood. He shuddered slightly at the warmth.

Ryou sighed. "Sorry. I kept it as cold as I could."

"It's fine." He and Bakura only ever liked it warm if it was coming straight from a blood bank or an animal. Otherwise, it tasted stale.

Bakura poked the carrots on his plate, "Yeah. We can deal with it I guess."

Ryou's shoulders slumped. He always tried his best with cooking. He was the best out of the four, but he still wasn't very good. Akefia noticed the slump and raised an eyebrow at Bakura.

"Why don't you try cooking tomorrow, Kura? See how well you do it."

"Why? Ry's better at it." He said as he looked up to glare at Akefia, "I just can't believe that you guys would think that I'd willingly eat fucking carrots. I've never liked them, and you're trying to make me eat it."

"Just eat one," Ryou pleaded. "You can have my meat if you do."

"No. You need to eat that." Akefia told Ryou, returning Bakura's glare, "Just eat one Bakura. Drizzle some of your blood over it; that's how you ate it before."

Bakura huffed. "Ruins the taste of the blood," he mumbled, but he poured some over the carrot.

"Next time just do that instead of bitching at your brothers." Marik rolled his eyes as he took a small bite of his. "You know they're going to just bury you in fucking carrots one day."

"The second they even try, I'm making sure they're buried in a Catholic graveyard if they die," Bakura snorted.

Ryou kept staring at his food as he took a small bite. Was his brother trying to be mean today? Why would he and Akefia die?

"Wow. That's the perfect revenge." Marik rolled his eyes again..

"Shut up," Bakura snapped, swallowing his carrot as quickly as possible. It wasn't like it was going to happen anyway. He wouldn't let it.

Marik hummed as he tapped his lips with his fork. "Nope."

Bakura shot him a glare and took a large swig of blood. "Whatever."

"Oh, stop being a grump."

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to start naming off those Barbies - which you're still collecting."

Marik put a hand over his- well. Where his heart still was, though it didn't work. "Excuse you, those are limited edition and they have _just_ started bringing out cool ones this decade, so yeah. I'm keeping them."

"Well if you don't shut up, I'm either destroying them or selling them," Bakura replied, taking another large gulp of his blood.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me." Bakura stuck out his tongue and took a large bite out of his meat.

Akefia rolled his eyes, "You both are so childish."

Ryou didn't add anything like he usually would.

He just continued to take small bites of his carrots, occasionally drinking his glass of blood.

Akefia watched him for a moment. "Are you okay?"#

Looking up, Ryou nodded, "Yeah. Just thinking."

Bakura finished his meat and drained the end of his blood before standing up. "I'm going for a walk."

"When will you be back?" Ryou questioned, "You know we have school in the morning."

"I don't know," Bakura huffed. "Soon." He grabbed his trench coat and strode outside.

Marik groaned and stood up, following him. "Bakura, wait!"

Bakura sighed but looked back at him. "What do you want now?"

Marik closed the door behind him. "Quit taking your fear out on them."

Bakura scoffed and continued walking. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to talk."

"Then we won't talk. But I'm walking with you."

"Why? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." Bakura huffed.

"Don't care." Marik grinned at him. "I like the company."

"Well I don't want yours right now."

"Oh well. So Kura, where are we walking to?" Bakura huffed and didn't reply. "The silent treatment? Okay. That's fine." Marik suffered through the ever-thickening silence for about ten minutes. "Okay Bakura, please talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Apparently something is bothering you."

"Yeah, no shit. Silver Cross hunters might be here." Bakura stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I need a hunt."

"We can't hunt here. Somebody might see us," Marik murmured. "What about seeing if there's any gangs around here that we can beat the shit out of?"

Bakura huffed but nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."

Marik hummed, "Good. So, where to now?"

Bakura shrugged. "The dumps and alleys generally have a few gangs."

Marik nodded. "Okay, let's go overthrow some gangs then. Yay!" He cheered.

Bakura chuckled and led the other further into the city. Marik grinned as the streets got darker. And the fact that he made Bakura laugh.

Bakura nudged him after about twenty minutes of walking and pointed towards one of the alleys. Nodding, Marik followed Bakura to to alley.

They could already see a group at the back. One was laughing, holding a light pink and silver purse and talking about, "-How loudly she shrieked! Damn, you guys should have heard her!"

"Dude, only you would be thrilled by the screams." One of them muttered. "Seriously, the blood they give us is better."

Blood? Marik glanced at Bakura. He had to have misheard that.

"Yeah!" Another agreed, "If they can't pay us what they owe us; blood is enough."

Oh shit. Bakura nudged Marik. The other nodded and they turned around only to crash into someone walking into the alley. The man grabbed Bakura by the scruff of his jacket and slammed him into the wall. "What've we got here?" He asked, drawing the attention of the rest of the gang.

"Ooh Rover found some fresh meat!" One of them cheered.

Marik growled, "Let him go!"

"Why should I?" Rover cackled. Marik lunged at him but one of the others pulled him back. "You're the ones trespassing in our territory, fledgling."

Marik struggled and a hiss escaped him, "We were taking a stroll! Let us go!"

"A stroll?" One of the others hollered. "Why were you standing in our territory then, little one?" He ran a finger down Marik's cheek, flashing his fangs. "We could eat them."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't eat him. He isn't that tasty, assholes."

"Fuck you too, bastard! You taste worse than I do!" Marik huffed in annoyance. "Let us go!" He yelled again.

Rover hissed. "The thing is, we can't do that, fledgling. The second one of you enters our nest, you're trespassing. And we need to drain all trespassers."

Bakura growled and kicked Rover away from him, landing unsteadily on his feet. "You'll let us go, or I'll steal your fangs. What good is a vampire without fangs?"

Rover regained his footing. "What good is a vampire without a body?" He shot back. One of his cronies lunged at Bakura, but Bakura punched him hard, sending him sprawling backwards.

Rover used the opportunity to grab Bakura by his throat and slam him against the wall. Bakura's feet dangled a little off the ground.

"Just let us go! We won't come back!" Marik hissed.

Rover pressed harder on Bakura's throat as the pale teen scratched at his hand. "Nah."

There was a quick thud and Rover collapsed. Bakura fell to his knees, gasping slightly for breath. He didn't breathe; none of them did. Well they did. They didn't drop the habit. But they didn't need to. Not often anyway.

However, if the oxygen flow was completely cut off, it could kill them. He didn't know how or why, but avoiding being strangled was always a good idea.

Bakura glanced up, still holding his neck, to see Seto standing in front of him. Shit. How long had they been here? "So we've finally caught you. Did you really think we'd let you continually kill more people?"

Rover groaned and staggered to his feet, only to his his feet swept out from under him by Yami.  
"Stay down. You know it's over." Yami growled. Atem knocked out the guy holding Marik.

Two more lunged at them. Yami knocked one out but one grabbed him. Marik quickly pulled him off and kneed him in the spine, hard enough to almost break it.

The other two guys shared a look before trying to run for it. Yami lunged after them, Marik at his side.

They tackled them down. Yami knocked his opponent out with the tackle alone while Marik had to wrestle with his to keep him pinned.

Yami bent down beside him, "Let me show you a trick."

"Hurry up if you're going to do it! I'm losing my grip if you hadn't noticed!" Marik hissed. The guy under him squirmed until Yami hit a pressure point on his neck. He tensed for a moment and then fell limp. Marik sighed and climbed to his feet. "Thanks."

Yami rolled his eyes as he helped his brother start making a pile of bodies. "You both are fucking idiots. Why do you roam the streets and enter an alleyway?"

"Went for a walk, got lost, tried to find a shortcut home." Bakura shrugged. "Won't happen again. Why were you guys out?"

Seto raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly, "We're out doing a job. And can you stop letting guys pin you against a wall?" He said with a small

"Oh shut up asshole! Maybe you shouldn't have been one of those guys." Bakura huffed.  
Marik rolled his eyes and grabbed Bakura's hand. Getting into a fight with Hunters wasn't a good idea. "Right, well we're going to head back. See you guys tomorrow."

"Didn't you say you guys were lost?" Atem asked.

Marik hesitated. "We'll just get directions from someone."

"Don't worry about it; Yami and Seto can walk you guys back," Atem said. The two shot him a look but he ignored them.

Bakura rolled his eyes, "We can find our own way back. Just finish your 'job'." He air quoted the word before tugging Marik with him. He didn't want them to go with them.

Atem shot Yami and Seto a look. They sighed and followed the two. "Too bad. You're stuck with us," Seto muttered.

"We're showing you the way," Yami added.

Bakura clenched his jaw. "We don't need you to."

Bakura glared at him. "We can find our own way back."

"Well, we don't trust you not to get into another fight you can't handle," Seto sneered.

"I was handling it just fine!" Bakura hissed.

"No you weren't Idiot!" Seto yelled.

"I was too!"

Marik moved out of their conversation with an eye roll. He barely glanced at Yami. He should have grabbed some headphones.

Yami was walking, eyes strictly forward, hands in his pockets. Marik sighed and nudged him. Yami's eyes flickered to him, and then looked forward again. "What do you want?"

"You okay?" Marik asked quietly.

"I'm fine. And even if I wasn't, why would I tell you?" Yami snipped. He glanced at Marik again. "And why are you wearing a skirt?"

Marik crossed his arms. "'Why would I tell you?'" He mimicked not looking at Yami. Bakura and Seto were still arguing.

Yami shrugged. "Fine then. Don't. It doesn't matter to me."

Marik rolled his eyes, "Then why ask?"

"Curious. Not the kind of thing that goes down well in Domino."

"So? I can wear a skirt if I feel like it." Marik huffed. "It's clothes."

Yami shrugged again. "Alright. I've got nothing against it. Good luck getting the girls' uniform though. The principal will be fine with it but the teachers and students will give you hell."

Marik dug his fingers into the arm that Yami couldn't see clearly. "I already know."

Yami caught his hand. He quickly dropped it. "Don't do that."

Marik rolled his eyes and crossed his arms again. "I can do whatever I want, jackass. You're the douche who won't make a good conversation."

"Whatever," Yami huffed, folding his arms.

"What? Can't deal with the same bitchy attitude you give everyone else?" Marik questioned.

"I can. I'm just not bothered with you." Yami rolled his eyes.

Marik snorted, "No of course not."

Yami glanced over at him, gritting his teeth. "You... played a good game today."

"Yeah. Thanks." Marik shrugged. "You did too."

"Hn. I know. I always do." Yami glared at the ground in front of him.

"Not conceited at all," Marik mumbled. "Besides, it was fun so that's all that matters."

"Hn." Yami didn't reply. Marik snuck a glance back at Seto and Bakura. Still arguing.

Marik sighed. "I wonder how long their going to keep arguing."

"Probably for as long as this stupid walk is. Seto hates to be challenged," Yami replied.

"Bakura loves it; it gives him the chance to prove he's better than someone." Marik looked at Yami. "You're a bit like Seto, right? Don't like being challenged at sports?"

"No. I hate to be close to losing, because I always win." He won to prove himself. He couldn't lose it.

"Well, even the best players lose a game or two. I'm sorry to tell you," Marik sighed, "that no one is good enough to be a god."

Yami shot him a sharp look. "I'll find a way." Marik was about to laugh - he really was. Until he saw that Yami was deathly serious.

"That'll be interesting. Planning on being an all star player?" Marik questioned.

"No." Yami looked away from him. "I just have to win."

Marik rolled his eyes. "Why? So that your ego is well fed?" He scoffed. "Let me ask you this; what's going to happen when you lose? Are you just going to give up?"

Yami scoffed. "Of course not." But it would mean he wasn't good enough. If he could lose at something as meager as basketball, what was going to happen in a life or death situation?

"Then loosen up. Losing is a part of life. You just have to be sure not to give up," Marik murmured.

Yami shook his head. "It's not part of _my_ life." He couldn't let it be.

Marik shook his head, "Okay, when it does happen, don't come crying to me."

"Why would I?" Yami glared at him. Defensive. "We're not friends."

Marik snorted. "So? Bakura and I weren't friends and now I'm dating him." He grinned as he kept walking. "I'm sure if I bug you enough, you'll warm up to me."

"I don't have friends, and I don't want to be friends with you." Yami spun so that he was in front of Marik, forcing him to stop walking. "And you know what? When I see someone having a go at you in the hallway for wearing the girls' uniform-" A cold smirk curved onto his lips. "-I'll help them."

Marik's eyes flashed - he was barely able to stop them turning red. But they were colder now.  
He clenched his jaw as he shoved Yami out of his way, noticing a bit of glitter still on the other. "Then I guess I'll just have to beat the shit out of you too." He called back as he kept walking.

"Good luck with that," Yami snapped, halting in front of their apartment complex. Bakura walked past him, roughly bumping into him as he passed.

Yami growled, ready to go after him. He stopped when Seto placed a hand on his shoulder. "You need to stop picking fights."

Yami shrugged him off. "I will when he does."

"You started that one." Seto narrowed his eyes. "And now both of them are looking to fight you. Bakura nearly lunged at you the second you said it."

Yami snorted and turned away from the building. "Let them try."

Seto rolled his eyes, "You're not thinking clearly. If you don't stop being such a bastard, I'll suspend you."

Yami's eyes snapped up to him. "You wouldn't," he protested. "We both know I'm the best hunter."

"And while I respect that; I will take you out of commission for a while if you continue to be a problem." Seto told him.

"But I don't-" Yami began.

Seto held up a hand to cut him off. "You're impulsive, angry, spend every waking minute either thinking about hunting or fighting, pick fights over the smallest things, and the smallest change sends you spiralling out of control. Which one of those few selections _isn't_ a problem?"

Yami looked away crossing his arms. "I don't care about doing anything else, so why should I worry about that stuff? All that matters is hunting."

"All of it matters," Seto said slowly. "You need variety, or you'll become predictable, and that will show in your hunting. Atem was only two points away from beating you in the last assessment. Even he never got that close before. Kek was only ten points behind you."

Yami rubbed his temples. "Okay. I get it."

"Do you? Or are you saying that so that I'll stop talking?" Seto questioned, raising his eyebrow.

"I'll work on my issues, okay? Just don't suspend me."

Seto sighed and looked away. "If you don't work on them, you won't give me a choice," he commented. "One chance. A week. Agreed?"

"Fine." Yami reluctantly agreed. "What do you want solved by then?"

Seto raised an eyebrow. "All of them. At least to some degree."

"Fine." Yami muttered. "Should we go see if Atem's done?"

"He is." Seto folded his arms and nodded at the barely-visible, thin plume of smoke rising from the alley over the rooves of apartment blocks.

Yami frowned but nodded, "Fine. At least I'm not covered in blood this time."

Seto didn't bother to respond. He turned away from Yami. "I'm going back. You've got the rest of the evening off."

Yami held back a yell. "Why? I'm still good enough to go out there. Is Atem getting the night off too? Or you hunting with him?"

Seto glared at him over his shoulder. "Atem's got another job, and Kek is going out again, but no. I'm going back to finish the end of year work so that I can do more jobs in case you get suspended."

Yami matched the glare but gave a nod. "Fine. And you won't have to. I'll be fine enough to hunt." Even if he got suspended, he'd head out on his own. He _couldn't_ lose this.

"Hn." Seto turned forward and began walking. Yami watched until he was out of sight before storming up to his apartment. When he got there, Marik and Bakura were there. Bakura was muttering under his breath but Marik was just leaning against the wall, staring out into the car park.

"What do you want?" Yami snapped.

Marik's eyes flickered to him. "I decided to be the bigger person and apologise - despite his protests." He lightly kicked Bakura. "I didn't mean to get into a fight with you."

Yami clenched his fists. Damn it. First Seto, now Marik trying to make him feel bad

"Yeah fine. Whatever." He refused to apologise. At least right now. "Just figure that we're even now. I saved your ass and then I was an ass. Cancels out. Now can you leave?"

Bakura's arm twitched as though he was going to either punch Yami over the railing or grab him, but Marik grabbed his hand before he could. "No."

Yami sighed through his nose. "What do you want?" He gritted out.

Marik shifted slightly. "You know what I want. I'll leave when you give it to me."

Yami's teeth ground against one another. "No. And if you're going to wait, you're going to be waiting a very long time." He pushed past them and unlocked his apartment door. As he tried to close it behind him, the two darted inside. "Get out!"

"Told you already; I'm staying until I get it." Marik folded his arms.

Bakura shrugged and went to sit on the couch. "You might wanna give it to him. He'll follow you around until you do."

Yami scowled and took in Marik's appearance. A crimson crop top, black leather skirt and worn out runners. Not exactly low-key. What else did he expect in Domino? Compliments about how he looked? "Too bad." Yami walked towards the bathroom. Even if he didn't get any blood on him, he wanted a shower.

As Bakura said, Marik followed him, blocking him from shutting the door. "Why won't you just apologise? You're the one who started it."

"No; you started it!" Yami snapped.

"I did not!" Marik argued. "Tell me how I started it!"

"You dumped slushie and glitter all over everyone!" Yami growled. He shook his shirt out and glitter floated down around him. "I've had two showers today and I'm still covered!"

Marik crossed his arms, "If it counts, I got Bakura's brother too. Plus it was a prank. What you said was rude and you deserve much worse than a glittered smoothy bomb."

Yami shook his head. "Why would that count? And why would I deserve worse?"

Marik's arms dropped to his sides. "You really don't get that actions have consequences, do you?"

Yami scowled. "I know that actions have consequences, asshole. I just don't understand why that would make me deserve worse."

"Gods! You are such an _idiot_!" Marik huffed.

"And you aren't?" Yami snapped. "You realise they're going to slaughter you, right?"

"Yeah? Well at least I'll die knowing that I went down _myself_ instead of something I'm not." Marik glared at him.

Taking a deep breath, Yami met the glare with one of his own. "Do you really have a death wish?"

"Of course not," Marik snorted. "But I feel better in girls' clothes. I feel like _me_. And don't you _dare fucking tell me_ that there's no difference and that they're all just clothes because they're actually not. They're designed differently. All of them. There's less material used and more figure in girls' clothes. They typically have lower set necklines, tighter sleeves and better designs. Oh, and there are actual skirts and dresses."

"Nobody is going to see that. All they are going to see is a guy dressing like a chick." Yami retorted.

"Too fucking bad. I don't dress 'like a girl'." Marik folded his arms again. "I dress like myself. It just involves wearing girls' clothes. And if people can't see it, they can just deal with it."

"And by that, you mean let them go ahead and beat the shit out of you and harass you. That'll be their way of dealing with it."

"Then I'll deal with it." Marik narrowed his eyes. "And you if you decide to join in. Now apologise so I can leave."

"Or you can just leave. I'm not apologising," he refused. It was the blonde's fault anyway.

"Well I'm not leaving you alone until you apologise," Marik insisted.

Yami glared at him. "Just go. Unless of course your boyfriend doesn't mind you watching me shower. So unless you want me to call the cops for harassment; go away."

"Go ahead and call the cops. I could easily shriek assault if you tried to go for the phone." Marik smirked. "And I think the neighbours would hear me before the cops heard you."

Yami pinched his nose. Damn this guy is aggravating. "Go away," he gritted out. "I'm not in the mood to deal with your shit. And why would you want an apology that I wouldn't mean? There would be no fucking point."

"Exactly. So I'm going to stick around until you mean it. But even if you don't mean it, it's something." Marik shrugged. "Besides, you're not the kind of person to apologise unless you mean it even slightly. So I'm waiting here until I hear an apology and then I'm hanging around until you mean it."

Yami groaned in annoyance. "Just go away so I can fucking shower. You're the one being an asshole now."

"I don't care at this stage. Pull the shower curtain across if you want, but I'm staying." Marik dug the sole of his trainer into the ground.

Clenching his jaw, Yami took a deep breath. "Hey! Get your boyfriend out of the bathroom! Unless you're totally fine with him watching me shower!" He yelled to Bakura. He didn't care if they didn't leave yet. He just wanted a shower. A fucking shower. Was that too fucking hard to ask for?

Bakura didn't even look up from the episode of Game of Thrones. "You don't have a shower curtain?"

"He does," Marik called to him.

Bakura shrugged one shoulder. "Then use it. He's not going to leave you alone."

"Seriously?! Just get the fuck out!" Yami hissed.

"Seriously? Just apologise," Marik mimicked in a mocking tone with a mocking smirk, and mocking gesture, and just _everything fucking mocking Yami_.

"How about this? I'm sorry for not being fucking sorry. _Now get the fuck out_!"

For some reason, Marik's first reaction was a flinch. Fear flashed through his eyes. Bakura looked like he was about to stand up, but the fear was quickly replaced by anger. "I'm not fucking leaving until you apologise so get the fuck into the shower and _get over yourself_!"

"You said that you wanted an apology. I gave you one!" Yami growled. This was just going to piss him off more. "I'm sorry that you aren't hearing what you want to hear."

"Yeah, well so am I, and so will you be by the end of the day." Marik glared at him. It was different to last time - more of a desperate grab for some sort of control rather than floundering in fear again. Yami didn't understand him.

"I swear, you'll be the one that's sorry." Yami huffed. He didn't care that it sounded like a threat. He just wanted to be left alone. He pushed Marik off the door and slammed it shut quickly, locking it in the process. He turned on the shower and let fog fill the room as he quietly slid down the wall next to the tub.

After a few minutes, he stood and undressed, climbing into the shower. He pulled the shower curtain over too. Just in case.

Marik sighed and leaned against the wall. "It'd probably be pointless to pick the lock, right?"

Bakura changed channels. "I'm pretty sure he would be even less inclined to apologise if you did."

Marik sighed, "I suppose so." He was making things worse, wasn't he? He made his way over to the couch and flopped down beside Bakura. "Am I being over dramatic about this?"

"A bit, but he should apologise. He's lucky I haven't sent his ass to the hospital yet." Bakura replied, leaning on Marik.

Marik rested his head on top of Bakura's. "Yeah I guess."

"It'll be fine. Knowing his brother, he'll be forced to do it eventually. Don't worry."

Marik shrugged. "Probably. But I want him to do it of his own initiative. Or because he gets annoyed with me. Preferably the former, but either works."

Bakura rolled his eyes as a small smile made it's way onto his face. "No, I get it." He looked at his boyfriend with a smirk. "Besides, you also want to hear it because you've developed a crush on the asshole."

Marik's face heated up. "I have absolutely no idea what the hell you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Bakura chuckled.

"I don't," Marik huffed. "And what about you and your locker mate? He said something about slamming you up against a wall. You never let anyone do that unless you like them."

Bakura shrugged one shoulder. "That was before I knew he was SC. And he's intriguing."

"Uh huh. Liar. You wouldn't mind being fucked by him. I could see it when you were arguing with him."

Again, Bakura shrugged. "If he wasn't SC, yeah, maybe. But he is." He switched channels twice.

Marik nudged him, "You haven't done anything wrong. If you give him a chance, he might see that."

Bakura snorted. "You've only dealt with them once. Trust me." He switched channels. "He won't."

Sighing, Marik frowned. "So then it's hopeless for me to like Yami isn't it?" He asked quietly.

Bakura looked up at him, a yes already on his lips. Then he paused. "Not if he never finds out that you're a vampire." He grinned to lighten the mood. "And you just admitted it."

Marik crossed his arms, not looking at Bakura. "So? There's no point now is there?" Sure, he'd been able to date Bakura without realising the latter was a vampire, but Bakura was older. He'd had more practice. "He'll find out."

"I could help you," Bakura offered. Sure, they were dating. But it was complicated - as fucking stereotypical as it sounded. Forever was a long time to be with anyone. And they had already come to the agreement that if they liked anyone else, they could always get back together if they wanted to.

They weren't even in a polyamorous relationship because they never stayed together when they were dating someone else. They were basically just always one another's rebounds.

Marik shook his head. "No. He'll find out." He'd be putting them all in danger. He couldn't risk it.

"Marik." Bakura sat up, meeting Marik's gaze. "If you like him, go for it. We can handle ourselves; we've been doing this a lot longer than you have. And we'll help you. It's like you said; it's better to risk things and enjoy yourself than live carefully, always bored."

Marik sighed. "That's not what I said," he mumbled. But Bakura was right; to some degree, anyway.

Bakura nudged him. "It's similar. So, are you going to go for it?"

Marik hesitated before nodding. "Yeah. I think so." A small smirk formed on his lips. "Only if you do the same for Seto."

Bakura hummed. "I'll consider it." He smirked. "If you manage to get Yami to apologise by the end of the night."

Marik huffed. "Fine. It'll happen then." The shower was still running, so he'd have to wait.

Bakura's smirk grew. "Aside from wanting to see him showering, was there any other reason you insisted on going in with him?"

Marik laughed. "Nah, I just wanted to piss him off."

Bakura snorted and shook his head. "Of course you did."

Marik's laughter only grew. "Come on; you did it too by arguing with Seto earlier. When it got to the stage that you were arguing about tennis, you were really pushing the boundary between realistic and ridiculous."

Bakura stuck out his tongue. "So? I was enjoying an argument. That doesn't happen often."

Marik chuckled. "True. Hasn't happened since-" The water turned off. Marik used that as his excuse to stand up. Shit, that could have gone badly. Bakura hated anyone mentioning him.

Bakura clenched his fists. Damn it. He let out a slow breath. He knew Marik didn't mean to bring him up. Otherwise he would have finished the sentence.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Marik waiting by the bathroom door. Persistent bastard.

A few moments later, the door opened. Yami's scowl deepened when he saw Marik. Bakura smirked; he probably thought Marik had waited for him outside the door the whole time.

"So, are you ready to apologise yet?" Marik questioned.

"Piss off." Yami pushed past him.

Marik narrowed his eyes. "I refuse." Yami ignored him. Marik caught his arm and spun him around so he was forced to face him. "You're going to apologise. Now."

Yami jerked his arm away. "No way." He hissed.

"Yes you are! I'll make you if you don't hurry it up."

"Good luck with that." Yami glared at him. "I'm not apologising."

Marik raised an eyebrow. "Oh yes you will." He had a plan.

Yami growled. "I'm not!"

Marik poked Yami's chest. "You'll apologise."

Yami slapped his hand away. "I won't."

"Then explain to me why you won't. I deserve an apology."

"Because I wouldn't mean it."

"Really? Why wouldn't you mean it?" Marik questioned.

"Because I'm likely to beat the crap out of you."

"You can try," Marik sneered.

Yami snorted. "You're the one who couldn't take care of the guys who pinned your boyfriend against the wall. You really think I can't kick your ass?"

Marik spread his arms. "Try to punch me. If you can hit me once in a minute, I'll leave. Bakura, time it."

Yami rolled his eyes. "Seriously? You really want me to punch you?"

"No." Marik folded his arms. "I want you to try. Stomach, face, chest, anywhere."

"And if I don't punch you?" Yami inquired.

"Then you suffer with me being here until you apologise." Marik nodded.

"I have the timer set up. Ready?" Bakura yawned, head leaning on his shoulder.

Marik nodded firmly, his gaze fixed on Yami's. "Ready when he is." Marik smirked. "Oh, and if I manage to punch you without you punching me, you have to apologise."

Yami narrowed his eyes. "Fine, you're on."

"Start," Marik called. Yami aimed a punch - it would all be over with one blow. But Marik swayed out of the way. Yami's fist sailed through nothing but air. And it had been a fast one too.

Yami narrowed his eyes. He ducked under Marik's fist and aimed another fast punch.

Marik jumped back and twisted around Yami. His punches were a lot more playful than Yami's, making them easy for the hunter to dodge.

Yami gritted his teeth as he kept his eyes on Marik. He needed to punch him. He had to do it. He continued throwing punches, and each one was dodged.

"Thirty seconds." Bakura called to them.

"Come on, Yami," Marik taunted, leaping, spinning, and landing neatly on the other side of the coffee table. "I thought you said you could punch me."

Yami followed the jump, tackling Marik to the floor. He rolled over the dark-skinned male and pinned him, aiming another punch. "I can."

Marik moved his head at the last second, so Yami ended up punching the floor. Smirking, he kicked Yami off him and jumped up. Just as Yami moved to stand, Marik punched his arm - not a playful punch like earlier. It was like one of Yami's; hard, brutal. It sent Yami sprawling to the floor.

"Time," Bakura called seconds later.

Yami growled as he sat up holding his arm. He was going to bruise. Marik was stronger than he looked. "Damn it."

Marik held out a hand to help him up. "Sorry. I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

Yami slapped his hand away. "I'm fine." Or at least he would be.

Marik sighed but didn't comment on his stubbornness. "We can go again if you want."

"No." Yami shook his head. "You won," He gritted out. "My apologies for offending you."

Marik sighed. "I don't want to hear 'my apologies for offending you'. I just want 'I'm sorry'. I said it when I hit you too hard. It's not that difficult."

"Same difference, but fine; I'm sorry." Yami replied, annoyance edging his tone. His mother taught him to say it the former way. She said it made him sound more sincere.

Marik finally smiled. Though he wouldn't admit it, Yami found himself feeling a little better. "Thank you." He looked at Bakura. "Ready to go?"

"Sure." Bakura rose to his feet, dropping the television remote onto the couch. He hadn't stopped flicking through channels, even as he had timed their little contest.

Yami rolled his eyes, refusing to look at them. "Don't get lost. I don't want to have to save your asses again."

"You won't," Marik assured him with a grin as he walked towards the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Whatever." Yami replied. He waited for the door to be shut before laying back on the couch. His arm was throbbing. He lost. What good was he if he lost?

He closed his eyes. He lost to another _human_. If Marik had been a vampire, he could have been killed. No, he _would_ have been killed.

He could feel the tears starting to pool. How could he protect Atem if he wasn't good enough to win? How could he protect anyone?

He squeezed his eyes closed, but the tears slipped out anyway. He couldn't. He never could. He couldn't protect his parents, and he was going to watch his brother go the same way.

* * *

 **Little more eventful. Sorry these chapters are so few and far between. I'll try to update more soon. Thanks for reading! Please review!**


End file.
